Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1887-12-29
TIE COWBOYS VOCABULARY.

I'D H'iuc lhc oupJVCb VI ~ pupuI Wy lLouio
Swinburnc in the October number of
Scri6ncr'S. Passing over the first page
of his paper. which very Interestingly
traces the origin OF the place names in
the vicinity of the Rockies, wo come,
says The philadelphia Record, to the
class of words that have sprung up
among cattle-owners and cowboys 10
DIES gnate the various acts and general
conduct of their occupation, which the
writer asserts have never been cata-
logued. The terms 'rounding-up" and
"brand ne" are too well known to DO
dealt upon. "Bucker." meaning re-
factory animal. is also in ordinary use
in the east, being generally applied to
refractory politicians. The cook on
ranch is called 'rustler," and the
term is also applied to any uncommon-
ly active man, and its sense has been
still further amplified so that it may
mean thief. Pilgrim" and GENDER
foot, 'orig nallv applied TO newly i'm
ported cattle. but now it means all new
Corners whether two or four legged.
''To 60 over tho range was also once
limited to cattle. but now men as well
rs beasts that die Ego over the range"
in cowboy parlance. ''Roped in" has
also come TO be of common use. Steers
are 'roped in" for the purpose of
branding; men are often ''roped in"
to their d sadvantage. The epithet
'thoroughbred' applied to a line
woman is very commonly used in the
west but the English also use the
word in the same sense.
The writer gives the following short
list of ordinary cowboy words:
Brand, noun and verb; brand-book,
containing the recorded brands of the
country; brandng-chutc. brandng-iron
cOunterbrand. v. and H.: 1lying-brand;
lazy brand; brand-bunch, small herd of
cattle; bunch-grass; crease, v. NJ. TO
stun horse or steer by blow in the
neck in order to catch him; cut out. to
separate an animal from the herd; cut
ting-horse; crop. n. and v. an ear mark,
or to make mark by cutting the ear:
neck; vent a brand annou,ing sale;
single-bob, slit ear dropping down.
Other marks signifying ownership are
over-bit. over-hack, over-half-crop,
over-slope. swallow-fork. under-bit,
under-hack. etc. These are mostly
technical, but the common terms are
almost equally unfamiliar--such rs
grade. adj. and H., improved cattle;
grass-cattle. fed only on grass; hacka-
more. br die made of horse-hair; heel,
to lariat an animal BY the hind leg; hon
dou derivation unknown. though prob
ably from Spanish honda, the eye of
the medley, the slip-knot of the lariat;
paunch, to shoot refractory steer
through the paunch. producing tenn
porary quietude; slickcr. n waterproof
coat; string. small collection of
horses or steers; string-beam. pair of
horses or mules in long succession; tail,
to hold q steer down by the tail after
1t is lassoed and hoeled; trail. II. and ";
tral-cattle, trail-cinch; wrangler,
dog-herder; wrangle footed, mixture
of several gats. The st is by no
means complete, but it comprises the
most common vernacuar terms in use.
The class of words drawn from The
Spanish is more numerous and more
interesting. Ranch. from rancho,
meaning mess, is commonly applied by
the herder TO his companions so is
"outtt;' vamos, to clear out;' ranchero
is the steward of the mess; vaquero is
the herder: cOmpanero. partner. and
compadrc, friend. Tho adobe of
which the cowboys house is built is
known by it's Spanish name alone. He
calls his stove an estufa; eats tortillas,
in other words hoe-cake; wears u
serape "a light striped wooden shawD
over his shoulders; calls his fields of
lucern fields of alfalfa. a dried-up creek
mn arravos, deep holes made by the
mountain flood barrancas, and water
canals FUSED for irrigation) acequras.
Any collection of trees. brambles or
bushes is n chaparral. and table-land is
mesa. ''Balie," corrupted into
''bailee" among cowboys, is allied to
our ball; but it means also sheriff
(baiiff), which is significant. The con-
nectOn between balls and bailiffs in
, New Mexico is, unfortunately, more
Intimate and frequent than would be
thought desirable in Boston and New
York. The true cowboy delights in
the lingering waltz which the senoritas
accord him. He will hop and roll
about until he has worn out his zapatos
Spanish shocs), and still he is ready
to swear that his partner is his ojo, the
very eye of his heart.
Loco is Spanish word signifyng
NAL, crack-brained. A plant of the
plains which is poisonous to the cattle,
producing symptoms of insanity. is
called loco weed. ''From tho substant-
i've verb sprang into use. Cattle
showing signs of madness are said 10
be 'locoed, and so finally the word OK
tended so human beings. Some have
der we'd these meanings from the plant
itself, as If it had Originally borne the
name 1oco;' but this is incorrect, tho
real process having been just the re-
verse of it.
Cuddy and burro are the two cpl
theis which distinguish the small Ionk-
ey. But tho cowboy is getting to like
the well-bred horse better, and the bur-
ro's day of popularity is gone. 1t is
in relation to his horse and trappings
that the cowboys Spanish vocabulary
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